Document Type

Article

Abstract

The present study investigated quantitatively the significance of HNLC (high-nutrient low-chlorophyll) regions and its grazing control with the im- proved iron fertilization for climate change. The limitation of iron (Fe) for phytoplankton growth in HNLC regions was confirmed by sulfur compounds (S) such as volcanic ash and hydrogen sulfide (H2S) in batch cultures, whose chemical sediment of Fe3S4 showed 4.06 wt%. The technologies developed for iron fertilization since 1993 till now were not practical to provide sufficient amounts of bioavailable iron due to sedimentary iron sulfides induced by undersea volcanic sulfur compounds. The proposed technology for iron fertilization was improved to enhance the bioavailable iron to phytoplankton by keeping minimal sulfur compounds in HNLC regions. The low productivity of phytoplankton by grazing control in HNLC regions was 6% diatoms whose 52% was grazed by copepods and 42% by krill on the basis of data analysis in 2000 EisenEx Experiment at boundary of Antarctic and African tectonic plates. All of the previous iron fertilization experiments were conducted at volcanic sulfur compounds enriched HNLC regions. The present study re- vealed that the enhanced phytoplankton productivity in batch culture without sedimentary iron sulfides can be possible only if sulfur compounds are minimal, as is in Shag Rocks (53 ̊S, 42 ̊W) of South Georgia in Scotia Sea in the Southern Ocean.

Disciplines

Climate | Environmental Sciences | Geology | Oceanography

Comments

Copyright © 2019 the author(s) and Scientific Research Publishing Inc. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution International License (CC BY 4.0, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Originall published in American Journal of Climate Change, https://doi.org/10.4236/ajcc.2019.81002

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